


questionable, at best

by annie_writes



Series: Side: Gueira & Meis [3]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Amputation, Heavy Angst, Heris-centric, Human Experimentation, Medical Torture, Vomiting, heris has some issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:54:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24885661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annie_writes/pseuds/annie_writes
Summary: Heris Ardebit was a good person.At least, that's what she told herself every morning. She knew that her studies into the Burnish was doing harm, but she only really worked behind the scenes in studying data given to her, rather avoiding firsthand seeing the consequences of her actions. At least, until she found herself put in front of a trembling boy with curly brown and red hair.
Relationships: Heris Ardebit & Gueira
Series: Side: Gueira & Meis [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812265
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	questionable, at best

**Author's Note:**

> hey take note of the tags! while nothings really Shown (it ends before anything happens) medical procedures involving amputations and broken bones are discussed. I kinda just wanted to write some heris-centric stuff bc like, I find her character super interesting and I feel like there's a lot that can be written about her... and then combined it w some of my backstory headcanons for gueira's past. syugfhidsjf anyways yea! here yall go aaa

  
Heris Ardebit was a good person.

At least, that's what she told herself every morning. She knew that her studies into the Burnish was doing harm, but she only really worked behind the scenes in studying data given to her, rather avoiding firsthand seeing the consequences of her actions. At least, until she found herself put in front of a trembling boy with curly brown and red hair.

She had only been told that day that she was getting a new assignment, and before she knew it, she was on her way to a lab compound miles out of the city that she had never actually set foot into. 

Here, Heris Ardebit was now standing next to her boss, Kray Foresight himself, being presented to the small, trembling man in front of them. He looked incredibly frail, skeletal limbs covered in bandages and very ill-fitting clothes. She couldn't get a good look at his face- he was staring at the floor, dark curls framing and obscuring much of his features save for freckled cheeks. His wrists were bound with what Heris recognized as freezing technology.

"Wh-What is this?" Heris stuttered, clutching the clipboard she was holding closer to her chest. 

"Your new project." One of the head scientists of the building smiled as he stepped over, and Heris instantly recognized him as a past coworker of hers, a dark-haired man named Ano. Heris waved in response and Ano put his hand on the shoulder of the trembling boy. He didn't react whatsoever.

"He's a lot smaller than I expected." Kray cleared his throat, leaning over slightly to get a closer look at him. "Gueira Martinez, right?"

"That's him. Funny that he used to be the leader of Mad Burnish, who knew such a little guy could cause us so much trouble?" Ano smiled, stepping back again and busying himself with moving some concerning-looking equipment around.

"He's a Burnish?" Heris frowned, tilting her head slightly. "And a leader... He looks so young..."

"He's 21, but looks a lot younger, doesn't he? Pretty sure he's got some kind of health issues." Ano piped up. _The same age as Aina._ Heris chased the thought away before adjusting her glasses. 

"Y-Yeah..." Heris swallowed and looked back up at her boss, who had an unreadable expression on his face.

Slowly he reached out, pointing a finger under the boy-Gueira's-chin, tilting his head back to force him to look up. His dark curls fell away from his eyes and Heris couldn't stop herself from gasping aloud- He looked _dead_. Heris had never seen someone look so _broken_ before, and a shiver ran down her spine as she couldn't stop staring at the purple bruises under his eyes as well as his small red pupils staring blankly up at Kray. 

"Used to be such a defiant little thing, we fixed that up quick though. Took about two weeks before he stopped fighting back." Ano shuffled some more papers into a stack, replying mostly to the way that Kray was now looking over the Burnish.

"Hmm." Kray hummed as he moved his hand to gently thread his fingers through Gueira's messy hair. In any other context, the action might look almost affectionate, but Heris felt her skin start to crawl for a reason she couldn't describe. Gueira seemed to react for the first time she'd seen that day at having his hair touched, eyes widening in something close to panic.

"N...No..." Gueira choked out, voice raspy and barely audible from disuse.

"What was that?" Kray continued carding his hand through Gueira's curls, only making the scrawny man tremble more.

"D-...Don't... Don't touch me..." He rasped, looking almost shocked and unsure of himself for speaking up. Kray frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. 

"It looks like you have a little fight left in you. What a shame." Kray tsked, and with one fluid motion drew his hand back to strike Gueira across the face. The scrawny man hit the floor with a sickening thud right at Heris's feet, and it took every ounce of self control she had not to kneel down and help him. He didn't move.

"S-Sir, I don't think that-" Heris stuttered.

"Don't think that what?" Her boss resumed an unreadable expression, not looking at her.

"I just-" Heris swallowed, looking down at the trembling form in front of her. "That wasn't really necessary-" As she saw Kray's shoulders raise a little bit, she continued. "You don't want to cause unnecessary harm to the testing subject, it might skew results..." Bile rose from her throat, but she knew she had dodged a bullet.

"They heal fast. He'll be fine." Kray replied curtly, turning around. "Now, I have other matters to attend to. I trust that you'll work efficiently." 

"Yes, sir." Heris sighed, almost relieved that her boss was leaving, and silently hoped he would take some of the tension of the room along wih him. Looking back down at Gueira, however, she realized that maybe today wasn't going to get any easier. 

Kray briskly left, leaving Heris with Gueira, Ano, and someone she guessed to be Ano's intern. The intern introduced herself as Shale, a university student from nearby. She gave a meek look to Ano as she helped Gueira back to his feet. Heris guessed she wasn't fully comfortable with what she was assigned to based on her demeanor.

"So-" Heris coughed, cutting through the silence as she watched Shale remove the bonds from Gueira's thin wrists. "What kind of experiments have you two been working on with him?" 

Both Ano and Shale perked up a little, Ano nodding to Shale to talk first. "W-Well, we started with broken bones and studied the rapid regeneration of full breaks for two months... And then we started with amputations which are a little more nuanced, but we found that there's an incredibly effective energy output from the regenerative energy used to heal and re-grow a limb." She seemed to get less tense as she continued explaining their work. 

Heris felt the bile return to her throat as Shale continued with the details about how they measured energy output within the testing subject. Meanwhile, Ano was maneuvering Gueira to lie down on the metal table, the redhead not resisting in the slightest as he was roughly handled. Shale continued talking as she walked over to help secure the scrawny boy to the table with all kinds of straps, mostly on his arms. Heris swallowed.

"Where will we be amputating?" Heris asked, consciously making sure her voice didn't crack. 

"Forearms." Shale replied, pushing Gueira's shirt up to expose his frighteningly skinny torso. Heris found she couldn't tear her eyes away from his skeletal frame as Ano proceeded to place a few sensors in various places around his abdomen. "Ano is going to be the one doing the amputating, I just take the measurements and make sure that he doesn't lose too much blood. Even though he can regenerate, of course with cutting off limbs there's always the risk of bleeding out." Shale continued, turning around to check up on the heart monitor which was now steadily beeping. 

"Okay, I think we're all set." Ano stepped back to pull on a pair of gloves. Heris felt the lump in her throat grow as he pulled out a disinfectant spray and a rag, along with reaching into a drawer to pull out a saw. A _bone saw_. Heris felt like her lunch was going to come back up.

"Proceed?" Shale tilted her head. Ano nodded as he nonchalantly disinfected the saw, before moving to brace a hand on Gueira's thin wrist. Gueira's heartrate skyrocketed. Before Heris knew what was happening she heard her own voice uncurling from her throat.

"W-Wait!" 

"Huh?" Ano paused, pulling back. Shale also fixed her with a quizzical look.

"Aren't you going to..." Heris swallowed, looking down. "Give anesthesia? Or sedate him first...?" She blinked for a second, looking between the two. 

"Why? He's secured enough. He can't move that much." Ano turned around, leaning his back against the table.

"N-No, I mean... Isn't it going to... Hurt?" Heris's voice fell quiet as she suddenly felt her face heat up. Shale looked confused, and Ano just shook his head, smiling slightly.

"You think we're going to waste that on a test subject?" Ano clasped his hands together, turning back towards Gueira. "I don't think he really minds, anyways. Isn't that right, little Gueira?" His voice took on a mocking tone as he moved his hand to caress the side of Gueira's face. Gueira's reply was his entire body shaking in a choked sob, fresh tears blooming in his eyes and running down his already tear-stained cheeks. "Didn't think so." Ano picked the bone saw back up, stepping back down to where he could easily reach the scrawny man's forearms.

The sight was almost too much for Heris. The skinny boy stopped crying as quickly as he started, but his heartrate was still incredibly high. His face was back to that blank, dead expression, however still overtaken by his entire body shaking. Ano tsked and braced his hand back on Gueira's upper arm, holding it still. 

"All good?" Ano looked back at Heris for affirmation. _Oh god, please don't put it on me. Please._ Heris felt full on nauseous all of a sudden. All of the day's events rushed up from her stomach, and she struggled to stand back up straight.

"I need a second." And she was out the door, briskly walking down the long halls.

\---

The cold of the porcelain tiles somewhat helped to ground Heris as she knelt, emptying her stomach of her lunch, and then throwing up more bile. She had long discarded her glasses on the sink, and the fuzziness of the world around her also helped to slow her breathing.

"I can't do this." She muttered to herself, sitting back onto her feet. The image of the skinny boy-Gueira-wouldn't stop surfacing in her mind as she struggled to stop the trembling in her hands. 

He was so _young_. Heris couldn't help but see Aina in that young, freckled face. /Does he have a family? Has he ever even had a chance?/ 

Heris threw up another mouthful of bile. 

_No. It doesn't matter._ Heris stood up, hugging her arms around herself. Stumbling a little, she made her way to the sink, turning on the faucet to run her hands under the cold water. 

_I'd do anything for Aina._ Heris reminded herself. 

_I-I'd kill for her. This is just another obstacle. It's not like he has any chance at life anyways. Detach yourself, Heris._

Heris splashed cold water onto her face briefly, before drying it and replacing her glasses. Catching herself in the mirror, eyes puffy and lip trembling, Heris felt sudden anger rise up in her stomach.

_You're such a damn coward. Why do you even try? If one measly boy is going to get in the way of years of work, then you're just a fucking coward. Get your shit together._

_I'm doing this for her._

Heris pushed up her glasses and left the washroom with long strides.

\---

"Hey, are you okay?" Shale asked as Heris re-entered the room. Heris picked her clipboard back up, scribbling down the day's date with a new-found vigor. 

"Yeah." She swallowed, looking back to Ano. He smiled and pressed his palm back into Gueira's chest, readying the saw in the other hand.

"Good to see. Can I start?" Ano asked. Gueira's eyes widened as he looked _directly at Heris_.

"P...Please..." He choked out, tears resurfacing as he held Heris's gaze. "D-Don't..."

Heris felt tears rush to her own eyes, swallowing them back down quickly. It was really up to her. It was her decision.

_Do it._

Heris took a deep breath, snapping her gaze back up away from Gueira's pleading eyes.

"Proceed."

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i have a part 2 planned where heris and gueira Talk so hopefully I can get that out soon aaa...


End file.
